Dark Matter

Magnolia was Suszi’s thing until she discovered dramatic inky hues. Now, she has a new aesthetic, breathing moody modernity into the walls of her period home.

- Ruth Corbett

‘I WANTED A WRECK, but my husband Nat was a bit, “Erm, no thanks”,’ says Suszi Sanders, who is pleased as punch to be giving a tour of the once-dowdy Victorian house she’s transformed into a thoroughly 21st-century home. ‘He was worried it would be hellish to live in while doing it up. And he had a point. So what we got instead was something cosmetically bland, with holes in the walls and a gross, studenty kitchen. Not quite a wreck, but still with plenty for me to do!’

The couple and their toddler son, Teddy, had moved from a cramped flat in nearby Lewisham to this double-fronted terrace, where tidy streets, a residents’ association and back and front gardens are the order of the day.